By Cliff Rold

Juan Diaz is 32 years old.

He’s attempting to come back for the second time.

Even when he reached the highest points of his career, he always seemed younger than everyone around him. He often was. At only eighteen, he came off the floor to eek out a split decision win over Ubaldo Hernandez and the crowd let him have it. The young Diaz broke down on Showtime in a post-fight interview and the cynical boxing mass wondered if he was tough enough for a tough business.

It turned out he was.

Diaz never really reached the pound-for-pound heights of the sport. It didn’t matter. He accomplished plenty, holding the WBA lightweight belt for almost four years and adding the WBO and IBF belts along the way.

More importantly, He was a joy to watch. Diaz came to fight and threw tons of punches. He was never a knockout artist but that didn’t mean like it looked fun to be in there with him. Acelino Freitas and Julio Diaz wilted. Michael Katsidis couldn’t keep up.

It took some serious pros to handle the heat he brought. 

With a touch of baby fat that was still there in an injury-aborted comeback in 2013 and 14, Diaz jabbed hard, worked the body, and dared others to keep pace. And he was always a class act. He took some losses before the first phase of his career was over. None were to bad fighters. Paulie Malignaggi (who really beat him twice) and Nate Campbell were world-class guys.

Juan Manuel Marquez was more than world-class. At the height of his powers, Marquez is in the argument for greatest fighter Mexico ever produced. He was as good as he ever was in February 2009 against Diaz. It was the Fight of the Year.

Diaz came up short but the fight couldn’t have been what it was without him. He left everything he had in the ring that night. It would have been hard to ask for more. 

It was harder not to be a fan.

Diaz stepped away from the ring for almost three years after a 2010 rematch loss to Marquez. Including the first Malignaggi fight, one could argue he’d lost four in a row. It was a good time to stop.

Fighters rarely stop.

When Diaz returned to the ring in 2013, it wasn’t a surprise. Five fights into a comeback, he looked like he was getting back to form. In what was then a wide-open lightweight division, the possibility that Diaz could get back into contention, maybe even win a belt again, was very real.

A reported rotator cuff injury derailed him. He’s back again this weekend, facing Fernando Garcia (30-7-2, 18 KO) on Saturday in the main event on UniMas (11 PM EST/PST).

Guess what?

The lightweight division may be even more wide open now than it was the last time Diaz was active. If he can quickly resemble the form he was showing when last we saw him, it won’t be long before Diaz has his chances. Last week in this space, a discussion of the lightweight division was conducted centered on WBA titlist Terry Flanagan.

Diaz wasn’t part of that discussion. How much would it take to change that? Imagining a Diaz at least near his better form against Flanagan, or Jorge Linares, or Dejan Zlaticanin isn’t hard to get into.

He might not win those fights. He’d elevate any of them by trying to.

Juan Diaz isn’t a “baby bull” anymore but he’s not an old bull yet either. 32 used to be older in boxing than it has been in recent years. Diaz has a chance to get back in the mix. If he does, it will give him a chance to end his career on different terms, recapture old glory and remind everyone why it was so easy to be a fan.

Cliff’s Notes…

Also on the UniMas card will be a returning Mike Alvarado. The former Jr. welterweight titlist was always easy viewing until he wasn’t. The sour taste he left with many after his third fight with Brandon Rios will eventually go away when fans recall what he gave them in several previous wars. It’s no guarantee that it’s forgotten yet…Deontay Wilder doesn’t deserve any more credit for going to Russia to face Alexander Povetkin than any other of innumerable titlists who traveled for better pay in the past. That said, road wins are a great way to build bona fides and this is a chance to hush critics…No one expects Charles Martin to be around the heavyweight title picture long but he talks like he’s not going anywhere. Is there more substance there than anyone knows yet? We’ll find out sooner than later against Anthony Joshua…Kudos to Showtime for picking up both those fights…The WBC implemented a “zero tolerance” policy for rabbit punches? Did they? The rules read like any referee option for warning-deduction-disqualification that has ever been…Batman v. Superman is almost here…Daredevil season two is even closer…Whenever they finally fight, circle the calendar for Roman Martinez-Miguel Berchelt. It could steal the year.

Cliff Rold is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene, a founding member of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com